You Don’t Have to Be a Psychiatrist to Understand Depression
5 October 2009
7 Comments
IMAGE © Andrea Ruester/Corbis
Those of us who’ve visited the Depression Valleys know that it’s much more than a place of sadness.
Depression is sobbing and crying for two hours straight without a cause or a tangible reason others can see. Depression is sleeping for four days straight and still wanting more rest. Depression is skipping your best friend’s wedding party because you just don’t want to see anyone.
Depression is having all the luxuries a heart could dream of and still feeling down, really down.
So as you can see, there’s much more than a sad feeling at play here. If Depression is so disgusting, than those us who are inflicted with it would do our best to get out it. Just snap out it, right? What do we have to be sad about? If it was that simple, there would be no MorningWind and all the psychiatrist would be on the street.
What is Depression?
Depression differs from grief in severity and duration.
It is prolonged and interferes with our normal day-to-day activities. It becomes chronic and usually has heredity, biological and environmental factors. This means that if one of our parents has depression, we are more likely to have it. The biological factor refers to a decreased level of Serotonin in our brain and the environmental factors vary from person to person.
What is Grief?
Grief is a natural emotion felt by all humans. Allah says in the Quran, “And that it is He [Allah] who makes [humans] laugh and weep” (53:43).
Dr. Abdullah al-Khater in Grief and Depression: from an Islamic Perspective defines them as two types:
1. Grief resulting from missing a worldly opportunity.
2. Grief pertaining to religious matters which motivates one to strive harder in the way of Allah
He comments that we shouldn’t get caught up in the first type of grief. This world is temporary and losing a missed opportunity is not worth spilling our brains over.
The second type of grief is encouraged. A good example of this is the grief Muslims felt over the loss of Prophet Muhammad sallahu alayhi wasalaam.
Symptoms and Signs of Depression
- Persistent sad, anxious or “empty” feelings
- Feelings of hopelessness and/or pessimism
- Feelings of guilt, worthlessness and/or helplessness
- Irritability, restlessness
- Loss of interest in once-pleasurable hobbies or activities, including sex
- Fatigue and decreased energy
- Difficulty concentrating, remembering details and making decisions
- Insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or excessive sleeping
- Overeating, or appetite loss
- Persistent aches or pains, headaches, cramps or digestive problems that do not ease even with treatment
- Thoughts of suicide, suicide attempts
Next week, we’ll continue the depression series and answer:
How do couples survive and thrive when one partner has depression?
More on Depression:
Causes of Depression: Why so sad?
Marriages thrive best when depression becomes “our problem”
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“Depression is having all the luxuries a heart could dream of and still feeling down, really down.”
for 3 years now ive been feeling this way…
feels as though all my other emotions have been numbed out so much as though i cant remember what they actually feel like, yet at the same time ive become a expert at acting and portraying them out…what depresses me even more is that through it all Allah swt has always been helping me out by bringing me success in education and life etc… makes my feel like the fact that i am sad shows a lack of Gratitude for All the blessing Allah swt has given me…
Jazakullah Khair for your articles, May Allah always reward your efforts…
11 October 2009 at 1:51 am